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If online shopping in Canada felt like it was lagging the rest of the world, news of a few days ago is sure to widen that impression. Prime Now, Amazon.com’s service in New York City that delivers packages to all of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn within an hour, recently added areas of Miami and Baltimore.

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British Columbia’s municipal auditor general has recently come under fire from Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer, Canadian Taxpayers Federation B.C. director Justin Bateman and opposition MLA Selina Robinson. They are correct to question the office’s limited output (one report compared to the 18 it had promised). However, the deeper policy rationale for the office of auditor general is sound. When I started my job at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in 2003, one of my first tasks was to establish what it was that small businesses in this province wanted me to work on. It didn’t take long to figure out that one of the most serious concerns of small business is high property taxes. CFIB surveys show that small businesses in B.C. are more concerned with the cost of local government than anywhere else in the country.

The people on Cormorant Island in Broughton Strait lost their last physical bank when the Coastal Community Credit Union branch closed last May, leaving a hole they hope Vancity credit union will come and fill.

As Metro Vancouver cities ramp up their Yes campaigns for the upcoming transportation plebiscite, the No side says it is starting to capitalize on TransLink’s woes, including the dumping this week of CEO Ian Jarvis. The move, which occurred an hour after Surrey officials called on residents to back the 0.5-per-cent sales tax increase, has helped bolster the No side, said spokesman Jordan Bateman.

Even though Canada’s economy is being buffeted by plummeting global oil prices, the outlook for B.C. in 2015 remains stable. The province’s economy is expected to grow by 2.7 per cent this year, an increase over estimated growth of 2.3 per cent in 2014, according to the Economic Forecast Council, a private-sector group comprised of 14 economists who provide a benchmark forecast to the B.C. government.

In 2014, small business has continued to work really, really hard to support communities across British Columbia. We provide jobs for over a million people, representing 55 per cent of the private-sector employment in the province.

The B.C. Federation of Labour called this week for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, a 46-per-cent increase over the current $10.25 an hour and $4 higher than anywhere else in North America. It might sound like a good idea but unless your objective is scoring political points or pushing for higher union wages, it’s not. If your objective is to help those in need, there are better ways. Numerous studies show increasing the minimum wage does not reduce poverty, although this may seem counterintuitive. Most workers who benefit from a minimum-wage increase do not live in poor households: the teen living at home and working part-time, for example, or the restaurant server earning minimum wage but making great tips. In addition, many studies show when the minimum wage increases, the ensuing job losses and reduced work hours out-weigh the increase in hourly wages.

Kudos to the B.C. Egg Marketing Board for labelling Wednesday's made-for-media event in down-town Vancouver - the unveiling of a life-size fire truck made from, of all odd things, egg cartons - as an exercise in "eggonomics."

When I was a child I had a rather lax approach to obedience and my family never tired of reminding me of the time I tried to persuade my sister to join me playing in a nearby creek by telling her “it’s OK, Mommy can’t see us.” Today’s child has no such latitude. Helicopter parents can simply strap a wearable device on junior that will report not only her location but even eavesdrop on her conversations.